Stewart Awarded Norton Rights and Royalties

Tennesee’s Court of Appeals has ruled on a lawsuit between two heirs of Andre Norton, with caregiver Sue Stewart being awarded the copyrights and royalties to most of Norton’s works, valued at $250,000 by the estate.

Specifically, the judges ruled that Stewart would control copyrights to books published during Norton’s life, but Dr. Victor Horadam would retain royalties on works published after her death. Stewart also will get the royalties for reprints.

The Court of Appeals of Tennessee did affirm the lower court’s decision to remove Sue Stewart as executrix of the Norton estate in favor of an independent third party.

Stewart publicly presented her side of the case last July, saying in part:

On behalf of myself and Andre I feel that I must speak out now regarding the litigation lodged by Victor Horadam against myself and Andre’s estate. For 3 years now I have tried to refrain from making any comments concerning this matter. I feel I must respond to an article that was published last week in several newspapers across the country. This article essentially dealt with Victor Horadam and his relationship with Andre as he saw it. While I contend that he was a friend and a fan, I do not necessarily agree with his assumption that he was her “dearest friend” or “leading fan”. Andre had countless fans through out the world. She also had extensive correspondence over the years with many of them, one who received 1062 letters. ([Mr. Horadam] says he received 500).

[Via Crotchety Old Fan.]